Locking device for inwardly swinging doors



April 14, 1964 5. J. SUSSINA LOCKING DEVICE FOR INWARDLY SWINGING DOORS2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26, 1962 FIG. 2

INVENTOR- By .srA/v J. sass/m A ORA/E United States Patent 3,129,4l27LOCKING DEVICE F08 KNWARDLY SWHNGING DOQRS Stan .l. Sussina,Mamaroneclr, NiY. (226 Pelham Road, New Rochelle, N.Y.) Filed Mar. 26,1962,8er. No. 182,405 7 Ciaims. (Cl. 292-496) My instant inventionrelates to a locking device for inwardly opening doors whether suchdoors are right or left handed.

An object of the invention is to provide a portable, selfcontained,keyless mechanical locking device which may Zlock a door in its closed,as also slightly open, position.

A further object is to provide a locking device which is burglar-proofand the use of which cannot be detected from the exterior side of thedoor and is totally independent of the other latches or locks installedon the door.

A further object is to provide additional privacy and security to guestsor tenants of apartments, hotels and :motels where pass or master keysare available to others,

for example, superintendents, maids, front desk employees, etc., andthus protect against embarrassing and accidental intrusions and assurecomplete, instant and positive privacy to the occupant.

Still a further object is to provide such a locking de- -vice which willpermit the occupant safely to open the door a sufficient distance andlock the door in such opened position to interview a caller, to accept aletter or tele gram, etc., and without removing the locking device torelock the door in its closed position.

Still a further object is to provide a light-weight locking device whichis of such size that it may readily be carried in a pocket or purse, maybe installed and removed without the use of tools, and includes no keywhich could be lost or misplaced.

The foregoing, and other, objects and features of my invention will bereadily understood from the description vof two illustrative embodimentswhen read in conjunction with the drawing, in which FIG. 1 is aperspective view of a first illustrative em 'bodiment of the doorlocking device of my invention with the locking bar withdrawn from thehousing as far as it may be pulled out;

FIG. 2 an exploded view of the locking device of FIG.

1 on a smaller scale;

FIG. 3 an elevational front view thereof with a por .tion of the housingfront wall broken away;

FIG. .4 is an elevational lateral view thereof with the forward endportion of the housing top wall broken y;

FIG. 5 is an elevational front view of a second illustrative embodimentof the locking device of my invention.with the entire front wallremoved.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, the first illustrative embodiment ofthelocking device of nay-invention comprises a two-piece hollowrectangularshell or casing 1,

front andrear walls, for a locking button or pawl 4. The

two parts of the casing, each of which is preferably half the totallength of the assembled casing, are joined to each other as bysnap-fitting, pinning or cementing to each other after the elements ofthe device have been assembled within the front casing part. Thedesignation of the casing walls as front, end, top, etc., of the deviceis as given in the drawing.

An elongated locking bar 6, of flat steel of suficient thickness, forexample A to give it adequate strength, has a bent-over front end region7, and is inserted by its back end linear region through aperture 2.Except for its bent-over front region and its back end region, bar 6 isprovided its length with teeth 8 at each of its lateral edge regions,the teeth being of the mill or ripsaw type, each tooth being formed by alinear face substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement ofthe bar when stress is exerted against the door, and an oblique linearface with the perpendicular face the nearer to the bent-over bar endregion 7. The array of teeth of one side is staggered relative to thoseof the other-array, for example A2" to allow for an adjustment of in thetake-up on the bar, and to provide a relock feature should the firsttooth engaged when securing the bar, or one of the bar locking armblades, be broken, as will appear from the further description of theinvention. Bent-over end region 7 is bent about thus providing areentrant hook of about 45 to the linear portion of the bar for hookinginto the strike opening at a door jamb. The other end of bar 6 is shapedto provide a male connector 9 for snap hinged engagement to the end of acavity mounted power spring it) within the casing. The adjacent end 11of the power spring is in the form of a pair of spaced hooks which aresnapped over the respective ends of the connector 9, thus permitting thebar to be pulled out through aperture 2 a predetermined distance againstthe force of power spring 10. When power spring ft? is fully extended,bar

6 is pivotable about connector 9, to a position substantiallyperpendicular to the front wall of the forward part of easing 1 (FIG.4), thereby permitting the door to open or close when the bent-overregion is positioned in and retained by the strike of the jamb of thedoor to be locked from the inside by the use of my device. Toaccommodate the connector end of bar 6, and to permit pivoting bar 6 tosuch position perpendicular to the front wall of the casing 1, adjacentend 11 of power spring 10,

has a central cut-out portion 13. It will be noted that the remainingshoulder regions of such power spring adjacent end 11 will strike therear face of the pair of locking blades, hereinafter discussed, when thebar is fully extended, and permit no further withdrawal of the bar whilesimultaneously signalling that the casing may be pivoted away from thedoor to the stated perpendicular position. Since the width beyond theinner face of the forward end wall of the casing of that portion ofaperture 2 in the front wall of the casing, is substantially the same asthe thickness of the bar, obviously thebar can- .not be pivoted to itsfull substantially perpendicular posi- -tion until the bar is fullyextended.

Within casing 1, a formed internal partition 14, likewise preferably ofa high impact thermoplastic, having a front wall 15 with an elongatedextension in at each the top and bottom thereof to engage the adjacentfront .wall of the casing, has a rear wall 17 spaced therefrom whichextends the entire inner length of the casing. The

front wall 15 is of such length that its forward end, as

indicated'at 18, when fully in the casing, leaves a space to permittheformed snap hooks on end 11 of thepower spring 10, to enter suchspace a distance sufiicient to permit pivoting of bar 6 to the statedsubstantially perpendicularposition. The spacing at which front wall 15of partition 14 is held by extensions l from frontwall of casing l issuch that one face of bar 6 slides on the face of a longitudinal ledge15A integral centrally with wall 15, while the opposite face of the bartends to slide on the inner face of the adjacent front wall of thecasing,

when the device is completely assembled. End 11 of power spring 10 thusstraddles ledge 15A, the hooked ends thereof sliding, respectively,between the lateral faces of ledge 15A and of extensions 16. The rearface of rear wall 17 has a recess 20 thereacross in which thecross-piece of a U-shaped Siamese pivot pin 23 is positioned, the armsof pin 23 extending through apertures 21 and 22 through rear wall 17,with the free end region of the arms of pin 23, extending throughapertures 24 and 25, respectively, in wall 15. Wall 15 is spaced fromsecond wall 17 by cross-member 26, integral with both walls 15 and 17.Wall 15 does not extend longitudinally beyond crossmember 26 while wall17 does so extend and with the cross-member forms an interior region 27which is the cavity housing power extension spring 10.

One formed angular pawl 4 is pivoted about each arm of U-shaped pin 23in the region between walls 15 and 17. The front end 30 of each pawl issubstantially rec tangular, and each has a longitudinal rectangular slot31 centered therein from its forward face for slidably receiving one armof an angular spring locking blade 32. The other arm of blade 32 extendsa sufficient distance inwardly to, and beyond, the locking bar, being ofsuiiicient length to just clear the inside face of the rear wall of thecasing. If the blade arm were of a lesser length and the locking barwere to be slightly cocked, it could become disengaged. Thus, this bladearm engages the forward perpendicular face of a tooth, or of the endportions of the male connector with the formed snap hooks 12 of thepower extension spring 1t) thereover, depending on the distance to whichbar 6 has been withdrawn when the formed pawls 4- have released thelocking blades as will be described. The width of each locking blade issuch that at no time will the entire blade width be visible throughaperture 2, precluding any malfunction caused by the blade being caughtin aperture 2. The other end region of each pawl 4 has one side face 34thereof of a large arcuate form of which at least a portion extendsthrough one elongated aperture 3 centered both ways, in each the top andbottom wall of the casing, the aperture being of such length as to limitthe outward movement of the pawl 4 that the inner linear face 36 of therectangular front end 30 of the pawl is substantially parallel to, butspaced from, the longitudinal central axis of the casing. The dimensionsof the forward end of each pawl are such that with face 36 so spacedfrom the longitudinal axis of the casing, its opposite linear face isspaced from the adjacent wall of the casing as to permit the necessarypivoting of the pawl. The inner and linear face 37 of the other end 33of the pawl is at an angle to face 36 and is provided with a projection38 at its end. A projection 19 extends from the front face of the rearwall 17 of the internal partition 14 and functions as a support for thespiral central region of torsion spring 39 of which the extending endsare anchored in a slot 46 in projection 38. Torsion spring 39 is sobiased that the arcuate surface of each pawl is pressed as far throughits cooperating aperture 3 to extend externally thereof as much as thelength dimension of aperture 3 will allow.

It follows that when pawls 4 are depressed against the force of torsionspring 39, the forward arm of each an gular locking blade 32 is movedlaterally out of the path of teeth 8 and connector 9 cooperatingtherewith, respectively, thus freeing bar 6 and permitting the bar to bedrawn out as required but not in excess of the predetermined distancewhen hooks 12 strike the locking blades in the rear of the forward endwall of the casing. During the hooking of the bent-over bar end regioninto the strike opening, even though the pawls are manually released,bar 6 remains in a drawn-out position since locking blades 32 areengaged to teeth 8 or connector 9. When end 7 has been so hooked, casing1 being in the path of opening of the now closed door, the pawls arepressed inwardly by encircling the casing with one hand i and pressinginwardly with the thumb and index finger on the two pawls, the casing ispushed forward or drawn forward by the extension spring, along the baruntil its forward end wall is flush with and tightly against the door.Now the pawls are released manually by relaxing the pressure thereon,locking the device in such position by the forward arm of each lockingblade reengaging bar 6 at the perpendicular face of the tooth of thearray aligned with the blade arms. Should a tooth of either array to beengaged be missing, the next tooth of the other array will be engaged byits locking blade; similarly if one blade is broken, the other will holdthe bar locked.

It will be noted that slots 31 for the locking blades are independent ofthe arms of U-shaped pin 23 about which the pawls pivot to permit themto float to and from the forward end of the casing, thereby preventingthe possibility of shearing such arms by transferring all stress to thearms of locking blades 32, the blades adjusting themselves generallyflush with the inside surface of the forward wall of the casing.

Upon completion of the assembly within the forward casing portion, therear portion of the casing is snapfitted, pinned or cemented to theforward portion to complete the device. Actually, the design is suchthat the only function of the rear portion is to protect the assembledparts, the lock functioning perfectly even without the rear portion ofthe casing.

In a second embodiment of my invention, power spring 10 is omitted andin its place a draw thong is used. As shown in FIG. 5, the draw bar 60is longer than bar 6 of the first embodiment, being longer than thelatter by substantially the length within the casing which is occu' piedby power spring 10 of the first embodiment when its bar 6 is completelyretracted to engage bent-over portion 7 to aperture 2, the additionallength of bar 60, as compared to bar 6, being likewise provided withteeth 61 of the same size, form, and staggered relation to each other asteeth 8 of bar 6, bar 60 terminating in a male connector 9 the same asmale connector 9 of bar 6. In addition, front wall 62 of the internalpartition of this embodiment, however, may extend substantially theentire length of the casing in that the cavity for a power spring is nolonger required. A relatively short but wide, flat fitting 63 has a pairof spaced hooks 64 at its transverse end regions which engage the endsof male connector 9'. A thong or string 65 is threaded through a pair ofspaced apertures 66 in fitting 63, the ends of the thong extendingthrough an aperture 67 in the back end wall of the casing, the thongbeing of suificient length that when bar 60 is fully withdrawn pivotingof bar 60 to the perpendicular position, as described for the firstillustrative embodiment, is possible and the tied and knotted ends ofthongs 65 will be loosely against the external face of the casing backend wall. The operation of the second embodiment readily follows fromthe above described operation of the first embodiment of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A locking device for locking an inwardly opening door to itsdoor-frame strike, comprising an elongated locking bar of rectangularcross-section,

the intermediate portions of each lateral side of the bar being providedwith an array of saw-teeth,

the saw teeth of each array being staggered in relation to the saw teethof the other array,

means at one end of the bar for engaging the bar to the strike,

a housing,

the locking bar except for its strike engaging means being normallywithin the housing,

stop means at the other end region of the locking bar to limit to apredetermined amount the distance the bar may be withdrawn from thehousing, and manually operable latching means extending from theexterior into the interior of each lateral wall of the housing and onoperation to permit relative movement of the housing on the bar withinthe predetermined amount on engagement of the strike engaging of thestop means of the bar to prevent movement of the bar when said one armof the lever is springpressed to project through its aperture and toremove said other leg of the right-angle from such path when means ofthe bar with the strike and on release to 5 the levers are manuallypressed into their apertures lock the housing to the bar with thehousing in the against the bias of the spring to permit movement path ofopening of the door. of the bar so that when the hooked end region ofthe 2. The locking device according to claim 1 in which bar is hookedonto a strike, the housing is movable each manually operable latchingmeans comprises along the bar for any desired distance up to that at aspring biased lever pivotally mounted in a lateral wall 10 which thestop means strikes the end wall defining of the housing and has two armsof which one arm the first aperture to position the housing selectivelyextends to the exterior of the housing and its other tightly against thedoor to prevent any opening of the arm is wholly within the housing atall times and door and at a slight distance from the door onreleasincludes ing manual pressure on the levers to lock the rightalongitudinal recess open at its forward end, and angles to the adjacentsaw tooth of each array. an angle of spring metal has one arm slidablydisposed 5. The locking device according to claim 4 in which in therecess and its other arm extending into the an internal frame ispositioned within the housing, path of the saw-tooth array in thelateral side of the the frame having an upper and a lower wall, baradjacent to the lever when the lever is in its each lever of the pair ispivoted to the lower wall of normal biased position and is removed fromsuch the frame, path when the other lever arm is manually pressed theupper wall of the frame being spaced from the top inwardly. wall of thehousing a distance to provide a sliding 3. The locking device accordingto claim 1 in which fit therebetween for the bar, the housing is ofrectangular shape and a spacer supporting the upper frame wall on thelower the locking bar is withdrawable from the housing frame wall,

through an aperture defined in the housing wall at the lower frame wallextends substantially the interior the region of joinder of an end walland the top of length of the housing and the upper frame wall exthehousing, the bar being pivotable about the stop tends to the spacer toform between the end wall of means at its end region when the bar iscompletely the housing opposite to that defining the first aperwithdrawnto engage the bar stop means to the inture, the spacer and the lowerframe wall a recess, terior face of the apertured end wall the bar to aand position substantially perpendicular to the top of the a powerspring of which the free end is connected to housing facilitatingengagement of the strike engagthe end region of the bar mounting thestop means ing means to the strike. disposed in the recess to restorethe bar automatical- 4. A locking device for locking an inwardly openingly to its normal position in the housing on disengagdoor to itsdoor-frame strike selectively to permit but ing the hooked end region ofthe bar from the strike limited opening and to prevent any opening ofthe door while applying manual pressure to the two-armed comprisinglevers.

a rectangular housing of lightweight material and defin- 6. The lockingdevice according to claim 4 in which ing a first aperture in an end andthe top wall at the the housing comprises two partial housingssnap-titted region at which such end and top walls join and to eachother. a pair of apertures respectively in the front and rear 7. Thelocking device according to claim 4 in which walls, the bar end regionsupporting the stop means is conan elongated flat bar having one endextending through nected to drawing means extending through the end thefirst aperture, wall opposite to that defining the bar having a hookedend region incapable of the first aperture for restoring the bar to itsposipassing through the first aperture in its portion tion within thehousing by pulling manually on extending beyond the housing, thewithdrawing means after disengaging the an array of saw teeth at eachedge region of the bar hooked end region of the bar from the strikenormally within the housing and while applying manual pressure to thelevers. a stop means incapable of passing through the first aperture atthe end of the bar within the housing, References Cited in the file ofthis patent a two-armed lever pivotally mounted within the housin toeach side of the longitudinal axis of the housing UNITED STATES PATENTSa spring biasing each two-armed lever so that one arm 57 4 7 Nagle F b,2, 18.97 of each lever is pressed against its cooperating aper- ,977 430D l O 16 1934 ture of the pair and projects with its intermediate 2 35 22 T 11 at A 21, 1953 portion externally through the aperture and the2,673,112 Andrews Man 23, 954 other arm is parallel to the longitudinalaxis of the 714,0 0 Gardner July 2 1955 housing, a recess in such otherarm of the lever, and 60 2 924 479 Butler F b 9 1960 a right-angle ofspring metal of which one leg is slidable in the recess and of which theother leg extends FOREIGN PATENTS into the path of the adjacent array ofsaw teeth and 630,106 France Aug. 9, 1927

1. A LOCKING DEVICE FOR LOCKING AN INWARDLY OPENING DOOR TO ITS DOOR-FRAME STRIKE, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED LOCKING BAR OF RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION, THE INTERMEDIATE PORTIONS OF EACH LATERAL SIDE OF THE BAR BEING PROVIDED WITH AN ARRAY OF SAW-TEETH, THE SAW TEETH OF EACH ARRAY BEING STAGGERED IN RELATION TO THE SAW TEETH OF THE OTHER ARRAY, MEANS AT ONE END OF THE BAR FOR ENGAGING THE BAR TO THE STRIKE, A HOUSING, THE LOCKING BAR EXCEPT FOR ITS STRIKE ENGAGING MEANS BEING NORMALLY WITHIN THE HOUSING, STOP MEANS AT THE OTHER END REGION OF THE LOCKING BAR TO LIMIT TO A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT THE DISTANCE THE BAR MAY BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE HOUSING, AND MANUALLY OPERABLE LATCHING MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE EXTERIOR INTO THE INTERIOR OF EACH LATERAL WALL OF THE HOUSING AND ON OPERATION TO PERMIT RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF THE HOUSING ON THE BAR WITHIN THE PREDETERMINED AMOUNT ON ENGAGEMENT OF THE STRIKE ENGAGING MEANS OF THE BAR WITH THE STRIKE AND ON RELEASE TO LOCK THE HOUSING TO THE BAR WITH THE HOUSING IN THE PATH OF OPENING OF THE DOOR. 